Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Two teens arrested in North Seattle robberies

Seattle police have arrested two teenagers in connection with a string of robberies Monday night in North Seattle.

By Sonia KrishnanSeattle Times staff reporter

Seattle police have arrested two teenagers in connection with a string of robberies Monday night in North Seattle.

The boys, 17 and 16, were arrested around 10 p.m. Monday by detectives using "good, old-fashioned police work," said department spokeswoman Reneé Witt.

According to police, around 8:20 p.m., a person who had been robbed on the street on the 2000 block of Northeast 73rd Street called authorities to report the incident, said department spokesman Mark Jamieson.

The robbers were described as two black men in their early 20s wearing black hoodies and black shorts and armed with a handgun, Jamieson said.

Thirty minutes later, police got word of a similar robbery on the 300 block of North 46th Street, near Woodland Park Zoo, "involving possibly the same two" men, he said.

Ten minutes after that, police got reports of gunfire in the 300 block of North 103rd Street. The shots came from a dark-colored car headed to Aurora Avenue, Jamieson said. Officers were unable to track the car down but got a partial license plate.

Then another report of a street robbery came in 20 minutes later in the 8700 block of Phinney Avenue North. The victim gave the same description of the robbers and provided information about their license plate and car — a black Chrysler, Witt said.

Officers working the case recognized the car and traced the registration to a house in Seattle, she said. They showed up and arrested one of the suspects. The other boy was found in Renton.

Witnesses were able to identify the teens and they were booked into the King County Youth Services Center, she said.